They were trying to treat brain cancer. But, in a happy accident, a group of brain cancer researchers at Duke University invented a better and perhaps greener way to make nylon, as described in Nature Chemical Biology.
A brief history lesson: In the 1930s, American chemical companies scrambled to develop synthetic fibers to replace the natural ones shipped from Asia and South America (which they couldn't get anymore because of a trade dispute). DuPont first produced nylon as a replacement for silk in 1935; after it appeared on the market as the bristles of a toothbrush and in women's stockings, a Fortune magazine article called nylon the miracle fiber, "an entirely new arrangement of matter under the sun."
The problem with the miracle fiber is that it's made from adipic acid, which itself is made from petroleum. And the acid's production creates a byproduct of nitrous oxide, which contributes to global warming. Five million gallons of adipic acid are produced every week from fossil fuels.
Theoretically, scientists could make the acid from simple sugars with a series of enzymes, thereby avoiding petroleum. Most of the enzymes used in chains like this are produced in large quantities by yeasts or bacteria, small easily cultured organisms that grow and multiply quickly. But the enzyme for one step in the chain, 2-hydroxyadipic dehydrogenase, is found in the cytoplasm of human cells but has never been produced in the lab.
That's where cancer research comes in. Four years ago, researchers at Duke discovered a genetic mutation in a common cancerous brain tumor that changed the form of another enzyme, isocitrate dehydrogenase. They applied this mutation to an enzyme in yeast and out came the elusive 2-hydroxyadipic dehydrogenase—the missing link in the nylon chain.
This process is a long way from actual production. But if it were made in this new way, the nylon as we know it in carpets, car parts, and parachutes would look just the same because it would be the same—its key ingredient would come from sugar instead of fossil fuels.